A Time For Giving & Sacrifice For Some Much-Needed Help

 

  This week I opened up my own web domain (my first) and started a new blog dedicated to trying to erase over $20,000 of debt that accumulated throughout most of my 4-year-long battle for justice and human rights in Taiwan. Not only am I seeking donations to help me get squarely back on my feet so I can take proper care of my innocent two young sons who have also suffered from this nightmare, but I am also going to give something back to as many as I can for their kind assistance…and pay it forward too.

  You can find my new blog at Giving Up a Life’s Worth of Music, Movies and More For My Kids’ Future

Time For Renewal and Coming Back to Life

 

It’s been 2-1/2 months since my last post. I’m still here and still going to be sharing more of the nightmare of Taiwan’s injustices against foreigners.

From time-to-time throughout this long-running saga, I’ve needed to take a break from writing and posting materials to handle things going on in the rest of my life and/or to give myself a necessary mental and emotional rest from recalling the many unpleasant and stressful events of this story.

During this current hiatus from blogging, the most significant thing I did was to travel back to Taipei in December for a week to see the newest joy in my life – my second son who I hadn’t seen for 8 months since I moved to Indonesia. The impact of Alice Yang and the nursing university’s evil fraud has been far-reaching – even blackening what should have been a much happier event when my son was born last January. Instead, unnecessary complications between my son’s mother and I have kept us apart, and for financial reasons I had to find work outside of Taiwan last year in order to stop the financial bleeding I endured for years in Taiwan. To make more progress in cutting down the mountain of debt I’ve accumulated in the past 4 years fighting the evil and injustice in Taipei, I’ve had to sacrifice being with my young son and seeing him grow up the first year of his life.

Spending time with my younger son and reflecting on my role so far in his and my first son’s lives have brought me to some important realizations and inspired me to re-evaluate what I’ve accomplished since they were born and what I must do from here on. The nursing university fiasco and subsequent events the past 4 years have cast me far out of the stable, positive direction my life had been tracking prior. Seeing the innocent joy and existence of my one-year-old son, playing with him, and imagining all that lies ahead for him and my 11-year-old boy inspired me to some crucial, and in some ways difficult, decisions to try and pull myself out of this 4-year-long funk and get back to who I once was and what I know I can be as a good, loving father to my sons.

Any Problems Connecting to My Other Blog?

 

  Recently I got a message from a reader of this blog in Taiwan telling me he has been having trouble accessing another of my blogs – Taiwan’s Injustice to Expats (& Other Foreign Guests). If anybody else has been having problems accessing this blog, please write me at Comments and let me know what kinds of problems you have had and I will address them. I have checked the link in my earlier blog post here and it works fine for me.

  Meanwhile, my latest blog entry there is Putting a Price on Life and Human Rights in Taiwan.

What’s Wrong With Justice in Taiwan?

 

There are so many things wrong with justice in Taiwan. Perhaps the root of the most serious problems lies in the misnomer of Taiwan’s judiciary being “independent.” What the judiciary itself and the government so proudly trumpet as a judicial system free of undue influence or control by the government is in reality a tight clique of inadequately prepared, narrow-minded, party-line demigods who are above and beyond the law, possessing the absolute power to interpret, bend, manipulate and subvert the law at will, accountable to no one and without any meaningful oversight or objective evaluation system to ensure they are performing their duties correctly.

As one official of the Judicial Yuan and another of the Control Yuan told me very matter-of-factly a couple years ago: The only way you can have a bad judge removed in Taiwan is to have indisputable proof of them in the act of accepting a bribe or their involvement in some other form of corruption. Judges in Taiwan are the “untouchables”, and as such they too often perform their duties with little or no regard for the island’s laws, evidence, reality, common sense or any regard for justice.

In a Sept. 3 editorial entitled “What has gone wrong with justice in Taiwan,” Lin Chia-Ho compares Taiwan’s judiciary to the Weimar Republic of Germany’s Kaiser at the end of World War I.

In his comparison, Lin states that “Judges under the Weimar Republic handled cases according to their own likes and dislikes. Defendants with whom they sympathized were let off lightly, but when it came to someone a judge disliked the law was often strictly interpreted and the harshest penalty imposed.”

This kind of subjective, biased treatment has been one of the hallmarks of Taiwan’s modern-day courts. And, of course, this sort of treatment is applied in many different ways. In my case, I was the “foreign” plaintiff the judges disliked and the judges manipulated the proceedings, their interpretations of relevant laws, and the decision so that the Taiwanese defendants were not found guilty of anything. In one instance, Dr. Tsay Show-Liu, nursing university chairperson, had broken the law by revealing my name in the email sent to colleagues, but the judges totally ignored the law and accepted the defendant’s flimsy claim that it was necessary to spread my name to protect other students. This all before I had been notified of the false allegation, before my first meeting with the investigation committee and long before the decision was made by the school. Equally disturbing, the judges disregarded another fact that after the allegation was reported, the nursing university continued to allow me to teach all my classes as usual AND an optional 2-week summer English course – a period spanning 5 weeks. If as they claimed in court that I was a “danger to other students,” why didn’t they just release me from my remaining courses while the investigation proceeded and maintain my privacy as REQUIRED by law. Both the accuser’s and the accused’s identities are supposed to be protected under the Gender Equity in Education law.

In addressing the fallacy of the Taiwanese government’s claims of an independent, unbiased judiciary, Lin later writes “Ironically, it was judicial independence and abstract legal concepts that provided those judges with the ability to abuse their power and a fig leaf to cover their abuses. Although the Weimar Republic had constitutional protections; the problem was that its judges did not apply them equally to allies and opponents. In effect, this was a kind of institutional state violence.”

Taiwan is full of just this kind of institutional state abuse and corruption.

You can read the rest of what Prof. Lin had to say at What has gone wrong with justice in Taiwan?

A Follow-Up to “Does Taiwan genuinely respect plurality?”

 

In a refreshingly candid and insightful follow-up to his August 4 editorial “Does Taiwan genuinely respect plurality?” Taiwanese professor Hsia Hsiao-chuan further dispels the notion of many Taiwanese that there is no prejudice or discrimination in Taiwan. Deep-rooted stereotypes and ill-treatment of migrants, expats and other sorts of foreigners in Taiwan abound as in many other parts of the world, albeit usually in more subtle and cleverly cloaked guises. Whenever one has the chance to discuss the topic of discrimination and prejudice in Taiwan with locals, the typical reaction for them is defensive, dismissive or complete denial that any such things exist in Taiwan.

Hsia sums all this up very nicely in these two paragraphs of his editorial “Breivik’s adulation a wake-up call “:

I expressed my opinions on this subject in an article published in the Chinese-language China Times on July 29, an English version of which also appeared in the Taipei Times (“Does Taiwan genuinely respect plurality?” Aug. 4, page 8). In the article, I pointed out that although Taiwan has never seen a massacre of people from an ethnic minority or migrants by right-wing extremists, our laws, policies and systems are full of discrimination against immigrants and migrant workers.

Discriminatory attitudes are often seen in the words and actions of bureaucrats, while prejudice is pervasive in society at large.

To illustrate just how deeply the negative feelings of some Taiwanese run towards foreigners, Hsia shares a revealing bit from one of several letters he received after his earlier piece in The Taipei Times:

On Aug. 4, I received an anonymous letter containing a photocopy of a full-page report about Breivik that appeared on page A6 of the Chinese-language Apple Daily on July 25. The report includes a photograph of Breivik wearing a special forces diving suit and aiming a rifle at some imaginary adversary. In the blank space alongside the photograph, the anonymous letter-writer had scribbled the following shocking and hate-filled message: “When will Taiwan get a brave man like this to kill all the mangy foreign workers and trashy foreign spouses who have crawled over from Southeast Asia and other backward regions to hang around in Taiwan, along with the shameless hypocrites who wave banners and yell slogans on their behalf in the bogus name of brotherly love — people like that bloody sow Hsia Hsiao-chuan? Because of this trash and because of you, our descendants will have to live in a trash heap!”

On the surface and in matters of routine and pleasantry, Taiwanese appear as welcoming and tolerant as people in most other places of the world. It’s only when you scratch the surface and get in deeper to what’s happening on the island do you see another darker side of society, the government and the judiciary that is not so rosy and not so foreigner-friendly.

For more of Hsia’s editorial, go here: Breivik’s adulation a wake up call

Shihlin Prosecutor’s Decision Dismissing Nursing University Defamation Complaint

In May 2010 some long-overdue good news came with the arrival of the Shihlin prosecutor’s decision in the nursing university’s attempts to sue me in criminal court for alleged defamation. It was their strongest bullying tactic to try and scare me into dropping my lawsuit against them and Alice Yang, the then-student who falsely accused me of touching her on her waist, calling it sexual harassment.

In an earlier post (see Free At Last! Nursing University’s Attempt to Countersue Me Dismissed) I included an edited version of the decision in Word format. Here is the original 5-page decision, still awaiting an English translation:

More on the Reported Rape of a Japanese Woman Studying in Taiwan

A search for more news on this story in The China Post revealed only 2 stories since it was first reported on July 15. Hardly surprising since this is the usual modus operandi of most English and Chinese-language media in Taiwan.

When foreigners are the victims of crime or other violations by Taiwanese the “hush-hush” goes into effect, and as long as possible the news is suppressed. Occasionally, through the determination of the victim and/or local advocacy groups, a story makes it on the news…and after the initial attention and typically gratuitous displays of concern by an alarmed (translate: scared) government official, the case quickly fades into obscurity. Rarely is the eventual outcome of the case reported.

Even more rare is the instance where the foreign victim actually gets justice. This situation is so prevalent and endemic in Taiwan that early on in my case I got a shocking comment from another foreigner working on the island. In response to something I said about seeking justice in the court, he said “the only thing you’ll get is ‘rough justice’.” Since that time 4 years ago, I’ve seen this term used many more times to describe Taiwan’s judicial system.

Such will most likely be the fate of this woman, her boyfriend and her family. There is NO JUSTICE for the average victim of crimes in Taiwan, including many Taiwanese. Instead, the longer and harder this woman pursues her case the further she will be victimized by a judiciary and government that knows better how to violate the human and legal rights of those who mistakenly seek protection, due process and justice under the law.

Here are the three pieces I managed to dig up in The China Post after much searching, the third one being a commentary:

Taxi driver arrested for assaulting Japan student

The China Post news staff–Police yesterday arrested a 43-year-old taxi driver suspected of sexually assaulting a Japanese exchange student he pretended to help.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2011/07/14/309772/Taxi-driver.htm

Suspect in sexual assault arrested, detained: police

A New Taipei City taxi driver accused of sexually assaulting a female Japanese exchange student was arrested in Tucheng District yesterday, after skipping bail for several days, police said.

According to Tucheng police, they were informed that the taxi driver, Hsieh Tung-hsien (謝東憲),
was going to meet his friends at Damugong Park in the district. Police arrived at 11:15 a.m., found Hsieh, and arrested him.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2011/07/18/310149/Suspect-in.htm

Comparison of freed taxi driver, ‘Obedient Wives’

Oh me, oh my, will these words today simply wind up as a foolhardy and faulty comparison of apples and oranges? Let’s hope not.

I would like to comment on the recent case of the local taxi driver who, having been charged with sexual assault, was let out on bail a day after his arrest for the measly sum of NT$50,000 (US$1,650) (CP 7 – 18 -11 p. 19). Is it possible, I am wondering, to consider a value question or two that arises not only in this case, but in a seemingly very different news story from Singapore about a movement oddly named the “Obedient Wives Cub?”

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/2011/07/24/310859/Comparison-of.htm

The Gross Mishandling of a Foreign Student’s Alleged Rape

Just last month the big news captivating some in Taiwan was the reported rape of a Japanese exchange student by a Taiwanese taxi driver. Usually crimes perpetrated against foreigners by Taiwanese don’t make the news on the island, but due to the very negligent and inhumane way the student’s complaint was handled by prosecutors and the judge, the Japanese woman’s boyfriend led the charge to make the story known to the public.

Here are several articles, editorials and even a letter that have appeared in Taiwan’s English press since the story broke:

Bail of alleged rapist draws complaints

ROUGH JUSTICE:  Banciao District Court said it decided to release the accused taxi driver because there were no accomplices and he showed no sign of absconding

By Wu Jen-chieh and Wang Ting-chuan  /  Staff Reporters, with CNA

The recent decision by Banciao District Court to allow a taxi driver allegedly involved in the sexual assault of a Japanese woman to be released on bail has been criticized by netizens, who slammed the ruling as yet another example of so-called “dinosaur judges.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/15/2003508287

Taiwan High Court overrules alleged rapist’s bail

By Rich Chang  /  Staff Reporter

The Taiwan High Court yesterday ordered Banciao District Court to set aside a ruling releasing a taxi driver on bail who is suspected of raping a Japanese female student.

The Taiwan High Court issued the decision after an appeal filed by Banciao prosecutors earlier yesterday against the earlier ruling.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/16/2003508372

Taxi driver at large after release

By Rich Chang  /  Staff Reporter

The Banciao District Court yesterday failed to arrest a taxi driver charged with raping a Japanese female student and who has now fled his apartment after being released on bail.

The Taiwan High Court on Friday ordered Banciao District Court to set aside a previous ruling that released taxi driver Hsieh Tung-hsien (謝東憲). The Taiwan High Court issued the decision after an appeal filed by Banciao prosecutors against the earlier ruling.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/17/2003508452

‘White Roses’ slam government inertia

EXPOSED FOSSILS:The movement accused the authorities for taking action only when compelled to do so, after the release on bail of a suspected rapist last week was criticized

By Rich Chang  /  Staff Reporter, with Staff Writer

The “White Rose” movement yesterday accused the government of arresting and jailing people only after public protests force it to do so, comments that came in the wake of the arrest of a taxi driver suspected of sexually assaulting a Japanese exchange student last week.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/07/18/2003508499

[ LETTER ]

The rusty judiciary

A few days ago, I was outraged by a report on a news channel. Not surprisingly, I was not the only person who was infuriated by the report.

The uproar was provoked by a report that a Japanese exchange student was allegedly raped by a taxi driver in New Taipei City (新北市). After a police investigation, the driver was found and indicted by the prosecutor.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2011/07/18/2003508493

EDITORIAL: Missing the big picture

The public is up in arms at the news that Banciao District Court Judge Lu Chun-chieh (盧軍傑) last Wednesday ordered the release of taxi driver Hsieh Tung-hsien (謝東憲), who is facing charges of sexually assaulting a female Japanese exchange student, on NT$50,000 bail. A quarter-million netizens have called for Lu’s head, branding him a “dinosaur judge” as the “White Rose” movement launched another attack on the judiciary.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2011/07/20/2003508652

Obstacle to Fair Treatment of Foreigners in Taiwan: A Dose of Reality Behind Multiculturalism on the Island

In addition to sharing my own experiences with legal and human rights abuses in Taiwan, I will also post articles from Taiwan’s English daily newspapers that show the pervasiveness of problems in Taiwan’s judiciary, government and even society where rights, justice, rule of law and discrimination are concerned.

Here’s a recent one from an August 4 editorial in The Taipei Times entitled “Does Taiwan genuinely respect plurality?”

By Hsia Hsiao-chuan 夏曉鵑

The word “Taiwan” has recently been popping up more than usual in international news reports, but unfortunately the exposure the country has been getting amounts to a slap in the face for Taiwanese and the government.

Read the rest here: Does Taiwan genuinely respect plurality?

Human Rights & Human Dignity: Style Over Substance in Taiwan

  There is certainly no shortage of government-speak in Taiwan about human rights. President Ma and an array of government officials proudly boast about the island’s current state of human rights and periodically you’ll see them in the news presenting another award to someone for their efforts in championing human rights here or abroad. They’ll even draw comparisons between human rights in Taiwan and their larger neighbor to the north mainland China to try and show just how good human rights are on the island. While there is some truth that human rights are generally better here than in China, comparing oneself to one of the world’s leading violators of human rights isn’t making much of a flattering comparison.

  For those of us living in or visiting Taiwan, the key point is not just whether human rights here are better than in China or anywhere else, or even that human rights are better now in Taiwan than they were 10 or 20 years ago. The key point is whether or not the government and the judiciary truly respect and uphold every person’s human rights, and human dignity, TODAY when called upon to do so. While it’s true that on the books Taiwan appears to be more “human rights-friendly” than it’s communist neighbor, the reality is that all those laws and all the talk about respecting human rights fall apart when one is in need of due process and the protection of those laws in Taiwan. This is exactly the dilemma I have faced for the 4 years of my struggle for the truth and justice in Taiwan.